Nogai language

Nogai, also Nogay or Nogai Tatar, is generally classified into the Aralo-Caspian branch of Northwestern Turkic, or Kypchak languages. This family also includes Crimean Tatar, Karakalpak in Uzbekistan, Kazakh in Kazakhstan, and Kirgiz in Kyrgyzstan.

Related Topics:
Turkic - Kypchak - Crimean Tatar - Karakalpak - Uzbekistan - Kazakh - Kazakhstan - Kirgiz - Kyrgyzstan

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Descended from the peoples of the Golden Horde, this language and its speakers take their name from the grandson of Genghis Khan, Nogai Khan. He ruled the nomadic people west of the Danube toward the end of the 13th century.

Related Topics:
Golden Horde - Genghis Khan - Nogai Khan - Nomadic people - Danube

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The rise of the Soviet Union and the establishment of Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (ASSRs) in the 1950s separated Nogai speakers into small enclaves in the Dagestan ASSR, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR and the Stavropol District. At the same time, the teaching of Russian took precedence over teaching native languages, and so the number of speakers began to decline. Recent estimates place the number of Nogai speakers at about 80,000.

Related Topics:
Soviet Union - Soviet Socialist Republics - Dagestan ASSR - Chechen-Ingush ASSR - Stavropol

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Nogai is composed of three dialects: Qara-Nogay (Black or Northern Nogay) in Dagestan, Nogai Proper in Stavropol, and Aqnogay (White or Western Nogay) by the Kuban River and its tributaries in Karachay-Cherkessia and in the Mineralnye Vody District. Qara-Nogay and Nogai Proper are very close linguistically, while Aqnogay shows more differences.

Related Topics:
Dagestan - Stavropol - Kuban River - Karachay-Cherkessia

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Originally, the Nogai written language was based on the Arabic alphabet. In 1928 the Latin alphabet was introduced. This orthographic system was compiled by the Nogay academic A. Dzhanibekov (Canibek), following principles adopted for all Turkic languages.

Related Topics:
Arabic alphabet - Latin alphabet - Orthographic - Turkic languages

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In 1938, a transition to the Russian alphabet was begun. The orthography based on the Latin alphabet had allegedly been an impediment to learning Russian.

Related Topics:
Russian alphabet - Orthography

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Nogai is now part of the school curriculum from the 1st to the 10th year in the Nogai District of Dagestan. It is also taught at the Karachayevo-Cherkess Pedagogical School, and the national branch of the Pedagogical Institute.

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In 1973, two small newspapers were being published, one in Karachay-Cherkessia and another in the Dagestan Autonomous SSR, but because of poor communications, these papers did not reach Nogai villages.

Related Topics:
Karachay-Cherkessia - Dagestan

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